23

In 1688 the Genevan Nicolas Fatio de Duillier (1664-1753) was officially elected fellow of the Royal Society of London. This honorific recognition confirmed his identity as a learned member of the Republic of Letters. Fatio de Duillier had not grown up in a family where the scientific tradition was strong, nor had he lived in a city that was one of the main centers of the Republic of Letters, such as London or Paris. His personal virtue was presented as the main argument for his European recognition. However, this explanation is far from sufficient, as it hides much more complex processes of construction and mediatization of his public identity. In order to understand the forces that played a role in Fatio de Duillier’s recognition, the tools of networks analysis are very useful. The concept of “broker” reveals, for instance, the role of some individuals who used their personal social resources to help the young Fatio. This was the case of his master—and later friend and mentor—in the Genevan Academy, Jean-Robert Chouët, who used both his personal and more formal relationships to promote his pupil in the circles of the Republic of Letters. It was also the case with renowned scientists of the time, such as the astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini and the mathematician Christiaan Huygens, who also became Fatio’s mentors. But while these men used their personal credit in order to help Fatio, they also perceived a personal interest in doing so, in line with the principle of gifts and the exchange of favors, which was crucial in relationships between the Republicans of Letters. The network analysis also allows us to shift scale from the individual to larger groups to which the individual belongs. For Nicolas Fatio, Protestant and family networks played a central part in his European recognition. Through the case of Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, these processes of construction and mediatization of a learned and scientific public identity are thoroughly examined.